us-005578-irn518977-irn516088
type: RecordSet
archival history: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
biographical history: Jacob Wiener (1917-2011) was born Koppel Gerd Zwienicki in Bremen, Germany, and was known as Gerd. His parents were Josef, born on February 15, 1892, in Zlatopol, Russia, and Sarah Selma Stiefel, born on June 9, 1882, in Hamburg, Germany. He was the oldest of four children: Avraham Alfred (b. September 19, 1925), Benno (b. October 5, 1918), and Liesel (b. February 2, 1921). His father owned a bicycle and motorcar sales and repair shop; his mother was a kindergarten teacher and a bookkeeper before her marriage, after which she helped with the family business. When he was sixteen, Jacob created a chapter of Agudath Israel, a religiously orthodox alternative to leftist Zionist organizations, such as Hashomer Hatzair, to which he previously belonged. The Zwienickis lived in a predominantly non-Jewish neighborhood, and the children attended public schools. Jacob was the only Jew in a school of over 700 boys. As early as 1928, Nazi activists in Bremen harassed Jews and made Jacob’s parents worried about their future in Germany. When the Nazis came to national power in 1933, some of their neighbors tried to reassure the Zwienickis that this was a temporary phase, and that they did not support the Nazi ideology. Even those who joined the Nazi party appeared to the Zweinickis to be doing so as a result of intimidation. Local Nazi officials created obstacles to the family business, and instituted restrictions in the schools for Jewish students. The children Jacob had previously played with were enlisted in the Hitler Youth. They were encouraged to report to the authorities about their parents’ activities, such as associating with Jews, creating further barriers between the Zweinickis and their neighbors. Most of the teacher’s in Jacob’s school supported the Nazi ideology and racial science courses, explaining the superiority of the Aryan race, and the inferiority of Jews, were made part of the curriculum. By 1934, Jacob’s mother was writing to relatives in other countries, su…
has beginning date: 1919-01-01
has end date: 1943-12-31
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had some members with language: eng
has or had some members with language: deu
has or had subject: 701
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn516088
is or was included in: us-005578-irn518977
record resource extent: folder 1
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Consists of 23 pre-war and wartime photographs of members of the family of Rabbi Jacob Wiener [Gerd Zwienicki] in Germany. Included are class photographs of the yeshiva of Rabbi Breuer in Frankfurt in the 1930s.
title: Wiener family photographs